PEACE-BUIDLING ENGAGEMENTS MUST ALSO TAKE PLACE ON THE GROUNDS

Official information released to the public last week indicates that the Ministry of National Security met the leadership of the National Democratic Congress to commit them as a political party, together with their ground forces, to peaceful elections on December 7.

In the opinion of the Daily Statesman, the engagement with the leadership of the leading opposition NDC is not only timely, but strategic.

Credible, fair and peaceful elections are in the mutual interest of political stakeholders, including ordinary citizens and family members of the top political hierarchy, who have a peculiar role to play in good governance, tolerance and peace-building efforts.

Space for all

Governments, in our part of the world, engaging the opposition is a luxury. Indeed, what we have tended to witness is a saga of intimidation and harassment until a storm kicks out the incumbent government.

That the government sees the opposition as true partners in our democratic space is a healthy sign that Ghana is growing in our democratic experiment, and that as well portends healthy indications that the elections will be credible, peaceful and fair.

It is unfortunate that the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) spurned such engagements that would have facilitated the processes for elections management because of suspicions that did not have basis. Thankfully, the country and the Electoral Commission survived it, and will also, God willing, sustain it as we head into the last phase of the processes towards the December 7 polls.

Cementing the wobbly grounds

While the Ministry of National Security engages the opposition, we believe it is equally imperative for such engagements to be designed for the ground players in regions and constituencies where the acts of insanity are executed, most of the time, on the promptings of elements who belong to the same top leadership Ministry is engaging.

As the Police hierarchy has told us, the number of flashpoints we have today far outnumbers what we used to have in 2016. This implies that more and more engagements are required in stabilizing the grounds, if we really intend to focus on security as a major ingredient in rolling out credible, free and fair elections.

Lessons from Odododiodioo

Already in Odododiodioo, in the heart of Accra, we are seeing parliamentary candidates, belonging to the same clan, eating themselves up. This is even when they had told the world that they were holding ‘peace marches’ to unite the electorate in the constituency and assure them that all would be well on December 7, when old men and women as well as other vulnerable groups move out to polling stations to vote.

That is aside of what we can expect in constituencies where aggrieved independent candidates may want to make statements to justify their decisions.

Peace at the ground

To concretise the intention of the Ministry of National Security, we would urge the police hierarchy to get their district commands to engage the political parties and get them commit themselves to peace before, during and after the 2020 elections.

Some people may recall that in 1996 such engagements took place to help diffuse tension on the ground at the waning hours of the general elections.

We are therefore calling on the National Security Ministry to ensure that the peace-building platform goes down to constituencies in sounding the all-important message of law and order as well as peace and security.

At the same time, we urge the religious bodies do their bit in ensuring that Ghana is the winner at the end of the December 7 general elections.